An increasing number of Apple iMac customers are facing troubles with Seagate-made 1 TB hard drives their iMacs shipped with, since 2011. Apple responded with a free no-questions-asked hard drive replacement program for affected customers, but evidently believes some customers may be using faulty Seagate hard drives from even before 2011. The company stretched its hard drive replacement program to cover iMacs purchased between October 2009 and July 2011. "Apple has determined that certain Seagate 1TB hard drives used in 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMac systems may fail," said Apple.

The company is holding a list of iMacs by their serial numbers, which are likely to be affected by faulty hard drives. Customers who registered their iMacs have already been contacted, while others are presented with an online tool that lets you check if yours is one of those affected iMacs. Apple and its Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) are tasked with carrying out these free replacements. Customers will now be covered by replacement protection for three years, that's up to April 2013.

I can't believe Seagate is still in business, so many negative reviews on their drives it is insane. Samsung or Western Digital for life.

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I have no problems with any of my Seagate drives, and have not experienced first/second hand that they are inferior to any other brands. Can you find proof that Seagate is consistently unreliable, or is it just one or two lines (discontinued, fixed or otherwise) which are sub par?

I can't believe Seagate is still in business, so many negative reviews on their drives it is insane. Samsung or Western Digital for life.

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Seagate and Samsung are the same now, so that point is invalid. The reviews are split virtually 50/50 between Seagate and Western Digital so that point is also invalid. Both have the exact same ratio of failed drives. Neither are any better than the other.

I have no problems with any of my Seagate drives, and have not experienced first/second hand that they are inferior to any other brands. Can you find proof that Seagate is consistently unreliable, or is it just one or two lines (discontinued, fixed or otherwise) which are sub par?

Seagate and Samsung are the same now, so that point is invalid. The reviews are split virtually 50/50 between Seagate and Western Digital so that point is also invalid. Both have the exact same ratio of failed drives. Neither are any better than the other.

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Umm cause Samsung knows HDD's are old tech. They moved on to bigger and better things...

Seagate and Samsung are the same now, so that point is invalid. The reviews are split virtually 50/50 between Seagate and Western Digital so that point is also invalid. Both have the exact same ratio of failed drives. Neither are any better than the other.

Nope, they buy cheap parts and mark them up. Cheap may mean high defect rates. Of course they'll replace it no problem.

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It is funny you say that, I had a 500GB drive die in my iMac. When I went to replace it I found the original drive was actually a Seagate recert drive, this is an iMac straight from the factory. Seems Apple got a good deal on a bunch of Seagate's recerts.

Also, I found that the design of the iMac and the location of the hard drive made the drive run extremely hot. There was virtually no airflow for the drive, and even after power the machine down and taking the 20 Minutes to carefully peel the screen off to get to the drive, it was still warm to the touch... No wonder they fail.

Not to mention everything Seagate did to make sure the SATA III standard was developed. That may be a little too insider, but thou shalt not make hasty remarks of large semi-conductor and storage manufacturers! There is more going on than meets the eye.

Doesn't surprise me, ive seen alot more seagates die in the past few yrs then any other drive. My m8 is inlove with seagate drives and half of his have died, compared to all my (half used WD when bought) and none have died.

That been said all the seagate drives i have sold are still working, cross fingers i guess.